UNDP Administrator Helen Clark Statement on International Women’s Day

Mar 6, 2015

This week, the United
Nations Commission on the Status of Women will commemorate the 20th
anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which remains
the world’s best blueprint for achieving gender equality and empowering women.
The review of this visionary roadmap, adopted at the Fourth World Conference
for Women in 1995, is an opportunity to celebrate the world’s progress toward
ensuring the rights and opportunities of women and girls, and also to renew and
reinvigorate commitments to achieve gender equality.

One of the great
achievements of the Beijing Platform for Action was the clear recognition that
women’s rights are human rights. Since that historic gathering in Beijing, when
17,000 participants and 30,000 activists gathered to voice and demonstrate
their support for gender equality and women’s empowerment, there has been
increasing recognition that gender equality, in addition to being a human
right, is also critical to making development progress. If women and girls are not
able to fully realize their rights and aspirations in all spheres of life,
development will be impeded.

Twenty years on, we can
see both progress and challenges in the twelve areas of critical concern laid
out in the Beijing Platform for Action. Gender parity in primary education has
been achieved, but completion rates and the quality of education are not high
across all countries. More women have been elected to public office -
about 21% of the world’s parliamentarians are women, up from about 11% in 1995
- but we are still far from parity. More women than ever before are
participating in the work force, but women generally earn less than men and, in
rich and poor countries alike, carry a disproportionate burden of unpaid care
work which deprives them of time for valuable pursuits like earning money,
gaining new skills, and participating in public life. And, while more laws
exist to protect women from violence, sexual and gender-based violence continue
to occur on every continent and in every country, often reaching horrific
levels where there is war and conflict.

Fortunately, there is
encouraging momentum not only to renew the promises of Beijing, but to address
issues which were not in the spotlight in 1995, such as the need to ensure
women’s participation in responding to climate change, building peace and
security, and helping their countries recover from crises. These issues are
central to UNDP’s efforts to help partner countries build resilience to sustain
development results. By promoting gender equality and empowering women as agents
of change and leaders in the development processes which shape their lives,
UNDP envisages a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient world.

Today is International Women’s Day, which this year is devoted to the theme,
“Empower Women, Empower Humanity - Picture It!” Join me in supporting this call
to fulfill the promises made in Beijing 20 years ago, and to realize a world in
which every woman and girl has the opportunity to fulfill her potential and enjoy
equal rights and status.

Helen Clark is
the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and the former
Prime Minister of New Zealand